Man charged after US army sniper shot dead

A 25-year-old Iraq war veteran charged with murdering former Navy SEAL and American Sniper author Chris Kyle and his friend shot the pair while they were at a Texas shooting range, authorities say.

Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster was arraigned early on Sunday on two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, at the shooting range about 80km southwest of Fort Worth.

Captain Jason Upshaw with the Erath County Sheriff's Office said Routh used a semi-automatic handgun, which authorities later found at his home.

Upshaw said ballistics tests weren't complete on Sunday but authorities believe the gun was used in the shootings.

Upshaw declined to give any more details about the gun.

Routh has not made any comments indicating what his motive may have been, Upshaw said.

Sheriff Tommy Bryant said Routh was unemployed and "may have been suffering from some type of mental illness from being in the military himself," but he didn't know if Routh was on any medication.

"I don't know that we'll ever know. He's the only one that knows that," Upshaw said.

The US military confirmed on Sunday that Routh was a corporal in the marines from June 2006 to January 2010.

He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and Haiti in 2010.

His current duty status is listed as reserve.

Routh is being held on $US3 million bond.

Authorities did not know whether Routh had a lawyer yet.

Kyle, a decorated veteran, wrote the best-selling book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History, detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents from 1999 to 2009.

Kyle said in his book that Iraqi insurgents had put a bounty on his head.

According to promotional information from book publisher William Morrow, Kyle deployed to Iraq four times.

Bryant said the trio went to the shooting range about 3.15pm on Saturday.

A hunting guide came across the bodies of Kyle and Littlefield about 5pm and called 911.

Upshaw said autopsies were still pending and he could not say how many times the men were shot or where on their bodies they were hit.

After the shootings, Routh left the shooting range in Kyle's black pickup truck, Bryant said, first going to his sister's home in Midlothian, where he told her and her husband what he had done.

The couple called local police.

Routh arrived at his home in Lancaster, about 30km southeast of Dallas, at about 8pm.

Police arrested him after a brief pursuit and took him to the Lancaster Police Department.

Travis Cox, the director of a nonprofit Kyle helped found, said on Sunday that Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the range.

Littlefield was Kyle's neighbour and "workout buddy," Cox said.

"What I know is Chris and a gentleman - great guy, I knew him well, Chad Littlefield - took a veteran out shooting who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him, try to help him, try to, you know, give him a helping hand and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them," Cox said.

A knock on the door at Routh's last known address went unanswered on Sunday and a for-sale sign was in front of the small, wood-framed home.

"Chris was literally the type of guy if you were a veteran and needed help he'd help you," Cox said.

"And from my understanding that's what happened here. I don't know how he came in contact with this gentleman, but I do know that it was not through the foundation."

Cox described Littlefield as a gentle, kind-hearted man who often called or emailed him with ideas for events or fundraisers to help veterans.

"It was just two great guys with Chad and Chris trying to help out a veteran in need and making time out of their day to help him. And to give him a hand. And unfortunately this thing happened," Cox said.

Bryant seemed to confirm that scenario.

The sheriff said Routh's mother "may have reached out to Mr Kyle to try to help her son".

"We kind of have an idea that maybe that's why they were at the range for some type of therapy that Mr Kyle assists people with. And I don't know if it's called shooting therapy, I don't have any idea," Bryant said.

Lieutenant Commander Rorke Denver, who served with Kyle on SEAL Team 3 in Iraq in 2006, called Kyle a champion of the modern battlefield.

Denver wasn't surprised that Kyle apparently used a shooting range to help someone with PTSD.

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